Combined folding plumb-rule and level.



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

COMBINED FOLDING PLUMB-RULE AND LEVEL.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 21, 1905.

Application filed May 18, 1905. Serial No. 260,299.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HERBERT'DIcKs, a citizen of the United States, residing at West Washington, in the county of Washington and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Combined Folding Plumb-Rule and Level, of which the following is a specification. I

. This invention relates to combined plumb rules and levels, more particularly to implements of this class employed by brick and stone masons, carpenters, and like workmen, and has for its object to improve the construction and increase the efiiciency and utility of devices of this character.

With these and other objectsin view, which will appear as the nature of the invention is better understood, the same consists in certain novel features of construction, as hereinafter fully described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, and in which corresponding parts are denoted by like desig nating characters, is illustrated the preferred form of embodiment of the invention capable of carrying the same into practical operation, it being understood that the invention is not necessarily limited thereto, as various changes in the shape, proportions, and general arsemblage of the parts may be resorted to without departing from the principle of the invention or sacrificing any of its advantages.

In the drawings thus employed, Figure 1 is a front elevation of the improved device extended for use, and Fig. 2 is a side view of the same in folded position. Fig. 3 is an enlarged sectional detail on the line 3 3 of Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is an enlarged sectional detail on the line L 4 of Fig. 1

In the improved device is comprised the stock or body, preferably formed in a pinrality of sections hinged together at the ends and provided with detachable fastening means, such as spring-snaps, and with longitudinal indicator-lines, one of the end sections having means for attaching a plumb-line and the other end section having a transverse aperture in which the ,plumb-bob will swing. The end sections of the stock are also provided, respectively, with transversely-disposed levelbulbs, and one of the intermediate sections is likewise provided with a transverse aperture having the inner wall in longitudinal alinement with the center or hair lines of the stock members, the central aperture also serving as a handhold and as a support for the longitudinal level-bulb.

The stock may be divided into any required number of sections and of any required length; but for the purpose of illustration three sections, as at 10 11 12, are shown, the sections 10 and 11 hinged, as at 13, at one side and the sections 11 and 12 hinged, as at 14C, at the opposite side, so that the partswill readily fold, as in Fig. 2. The adjacent faces of the sections 10 11 opposite the hinge 13 are supplied with catch members 15 16 of suitable construction to detachably lock the sections in distended position, and like catch members 17 18 are connected to the sections 11 12 opposite the hinge 14 for the same purpose. By this means when the sections are distended and the catch members disposed in operative position, as in Fig. 1, the implement will be rigidly supported and ready for use in the ordinary manner.

The end section 10, which is the upper section when the device is in use as a plumbrule, is provided with the usual clefts 19 to receive the plumb-line, and the section 12, which is the lower section when the implement is used as a plumb-rule, is provided with a relatively large aperture 20, in which the plumb-bob (represented at 21) is free to swing, as in ordinary plumb-rules.

Anindicator-line 22 is disposed centrally of the three sections and longitudinally of the same to indicate the plumb position of the implement.

Formed transversely through one of the intermediate sections (in the illustration the central section 11) is an aperture 23, with the main surface of the inner wall of the aperture, as at 36, in exact alinement with the central hair or indicator lines 22, so that the wall 36 of the aperture becomes a part of the indicator element, and the position of the plumb-line may be read as easily by noting its position relative to the wall 36 as by the hair-line 22.

Implements of the class herein described when employed by bricklayers, stone-masons, and like workmen are subjected to rather rough usage and the surfaces become abraded, so that the fine hair-lines 22 are soon obliterated, rendering it difiicult to employ the implement for delicate or accurate work;

but with the aperture 23 arranged with the inner wall forming a part of the indicator-line the partial or entire obliteration of the hairline 22 will not affect the accurate operation of the implement, as the wall 36 may be employed as an indicator. The alined wall 36 also provides for reading the position of the line in obscure light when the line 22 cannot be readily seen or to enable the line to be read from the opposite side of the blade or stock.

The aperture 23 is also formed with an internal cavity 24, thereby forming a shoulder upon which the casing 26 of a level-bulb 28 is secured, as shown in Figs. 1 and 3. The holder for the level-bulb consists of a plate of sheet metalfolded centrally upon itself and with a tubular portion 27 at the bend to receive the bulb. This makes a very simple, cheap, and secure holding means for the bulb, and which may be readily and accurately adjusted to correct any errors in its alinement.

I A guard-wire 29 is disposed above the bulb within the recess 23 to protect the delicate glass member from injury. By this means the implement may be employed as a plumbrule by attaching a plumbline to section and permitting the bob 21 to sway from side to side in the aperture 20, ,While the reading is made by means of the indicator-line 22 or the alined wall 36 of the aperture 23, as above described. The implement is thus a complete and accurate plumb-rule and may also be employed as an equally accurate leveling implement by utilizing the horizontallydisposed bulb, as will be obvious.

A recess 30 is formed in the lower part of the bob-aperture 20, in which a level-bulb 31 is disposed transversely of the implement and provided with a guard-wire 32, While another and similar bulb is disposed in the bottom of an aperture 33 in the section 10, the tWo latter bulbs for use supplementary to and as a check upon the plumb-line when required. The bulb 33 is provided with a guard-wire 34, similar to and for the same purpose as the guard-wires 29 and 32.

The hinges 13 and 14 are provided with a central cavity through their pintle-casings, as indicated at 35 in Figs. 1 and 4, to provide means for the passage of the plumb-line, and it will be understood that each side of the implement may be provided with one of the indicator-lines 22 and with the central recess in the hinge-pintle casing; but it is not deemed necessary to illustrate both sides of the implement, as both sides are substantially alike.

It will be obvious by this construction that a very convenient and accurate implement is produced which may be employed as an ordinary plumb-rule, as a plumb-level, or as a horizontal level and which may be readily folded into comparatively small compass for storage or transportation when not in use.

The parts may be of any required size or of any suitable material.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed is A combined plumb-rule and level consisting of a stock formed of a plurality of longitudinal sections disposed end to end and provided with alined indicator-marks, hinges connecting the sections at the ends at alternate sides and extending transversely of the sections and with cavities transversely of the pintles in alinement with said indicator-marks, and an aperture disposed transversely of one of the intermediate sections of said stock with the inner wall of the aperture in alinement with said indicator and the cavity in said hinge-pintle and forming an intermediate portion of the indicator-mark.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I have hereto affixed my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

HERBERT DIGKS.

Witnesses:

E. M. RICHEY, J. S. MAHAN. 

